Found-Footage Horror and the Frame’s Undoing

Abstract

This article fi nds in the found-footage horror cycle an alternative way of understanding the relationship between horror fi lms and reality, which is usually discussed in terms of allegory. I propose the investigation of framing, considered both fi guratively (framing the fi lm as documentary) and stylistically (the framing in handheld cameras and in static long takes), as a device that playfully destabilizes the separation between the fi lm and the surrounding world. The article's main case study is the Paranormal Activity franchise, but examples are drawn from a variety of fi lms. Surprised by her boyfriend's excitement about the strange phenomena registered with his HDV camera, Katie (Katie Featherston), the protagonist of Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli, 2007), asks, "Are you not scared?" "It's a little bizarre," he replies. "But we're having it documented, it's going to be i ne, OK?" This reassuring statement implies that the i lm image may normalize the events making the fabric of Paranormal Activity. It is as if by recording the slamming doors, l oating sheets, and passing shadows that take place while they sleep, Micah and Katie could tame the demon that follows the female lead wherever she goes. Indeed, the i lm repeatedly shows us the two characters trying to make sense of the images they capture, watching them on a computer screen and using technology that translates the recorded sounds they cannot hear into waves they can visualize. The i lm suggests that by containing the paranormal activity inside the borders of a screen, Micah and Katie can better understand, measure, and even control it.The just-mentioned dialogue also encapsulates the implications of the coexistence between a documentary aesthetic and horrii c events. With the found-footage horror i lm, the interpenetration of reality and i ction that was traditionally discussed in terms of allegory or topical references has found a new locus: the i lm's form. The proliferation of horror movies imitating the style of found-footage documentaries since the early 1990s has transposed the reality factor that once i gured in content onto the i lm's form. These i lms display the raw cutting, elliptical narrative, and grainy, shaky, and precariously framed images that mimic the style of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 The found-footage horror is an international ilm cycle whose genesis can be traced back to the Italian Cannibal Holocaust (Ruggero Deodato, 1980), which displayed mock found footage of the tragic deaths of a TV crew shooting a ilm in the Amazon within the context of a ictional narrative.1 Cannibal Holocaust has often been categorized as a snuff movie, which involves the exploitative documentation of torture and murder. 2The documentary authenticity of snuff movies has often been challenged-the retitling of the low-budget horror Slaughter as Snuff (Michael Findlay and Roberta Findlay, 1976) explores this uncertainty.3 The mimicking ...

Deformalisasi kurikulum pendidikan Singapura dalam film How To Bury A Dead Cat

“…Film merupakan alat yang sangat efektif dalam menyebarkan tujuan pembuat film kepada penontonnya yang berupa hiburan atau sesuatu yang mendidik. keilmuan lain seperti sosiologi, psikologi sosial dan psikologi politik (Sayad, 2016). Untuk komunikasi massa, analisis multilevel dapat disistematisasikan dengan menggunakan model metateoritis untuk analisis antara level dan dalam level dan mengeatahui hubungan analisis tingkatan mikro hingga makro (Sayad, 2016).…”

The Missing Narrator: Fictional Podcasting and Kaleidosonic Remediation in Gimlet’s Homecoming

“…They, uh --they did a nice job, actually. 19 Given the show's abbreviated run-time and its found-audio format, characterizations occur primarily through conversation. Audiences are familiar with the tone of these phone calls --the 19 !…”

“…19 Given the show's abbreviated run-time and its found-audio format, characterizations occur primarily through conversation. Audiences are familiar with the tone of these phone calls --the 19 ! Eli Horowitz, "Mandatory," Homecoming, podcast audio, Gimlet Media, November 16, 2016, gimletmedia.com/shows/homecoming/v4hev8/1-mandatory, 07:43.!…”

Współczesny horror w przebraniu kina „found footage”

“…Nacisk na taktylny charakter obrazów udało się osiągnąć dzięki fakturze zdjęć nocnych, wykorzystaniu zbliżeń i zdecentralizowanej kompozycji kadru. Wszystko to służy jednemu podstawowemu celowi, mianowicie przekonaniu widza, że film nie jest oderwany od rzeczywistości, że obraz, w który mamy uwierzyć, nie jest wytworem inscenizacji, lecz bezpośrednim zapisem wydarzeń, czyli tego, co rozgrywa się przed naszymi (i bohaterów) oczami 28 .…”